Havana

Havana is simply like no other place on earth I've ever been. It's like everything froze in the 1950s and slowly started decaying, and that's how it has been ever since. Some parts of Havana would not be out of place in a war zone- what I've seen with my eyes is reminscent of images I've seen from Sarajevo, Beirut or Iraq.

Old Havana, on the other hand, has been restored. Walking around in the streets of the old city is also like stepping back in time: every single building is exactly as it was in the 17th and 18th centuries, albeit with modern trimmings. But the difference between the tourist heart of the old city and the residential new city (central Havana) is immense.

The people here have universal education and healthcare, and look well and speak well, but their lives seem mired in desperate poverty otherwise, and it all seems so pointless. The one intelligent conversation I've had with a local was with two students from the University of Havana, who both were learning languages and aspiring to leave Cuba and experience different cultures. Other than them, everyone else seems to be in it for the money: from those in the tourist trade, the guides and drivers, who speak politely and smile and are working for the tips, to the jineteros who hassle you in the street, looking to make a quick buck and swindle you. However, if you move away from the tourist areas and walk through the depths of Havana, through the stinking, badly cracked streets and past the houses that are crammed with inhabitants, people generally leave you alone, although they eye you up and down, being the obvious foreigner.

Every day here is a new adventure, a new learning experience, and brings new excitement. I'm glad I came- I have been disabused of any remaining romanticism/idealism about socialism.